SJ health officials urge vaccination against measles



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Public health services in San Joaquin County are not left out when it comes to recent measles outbreaks in the western United States and cases in California.

The time has come, they claim, to get vaccinated.

"The bottom line is that you, the public, determine your fate with regard to measles infection. The time has come to confirm immunity against measles or to get vaccinated, "said the agency in a statement released Tuesday. "By taking this step, if a suspected case of measles is reported in the news, you can rest badured that you, your family and your friends should be protected from measles.

"On this Social Media Awareness Day, there is no excuse for not getting involved in measles vaccination – think about the possibility of confirming immunity as a" disease ". ultimate experience as a popular source. "

Last week, the agency reported a potential case of measles in Manteca after being informed that the Kaiser Permanente medical center in Manteca had a case that it believed could have been the first in the county. Post-announcement testing revealed that it was not measles, but the report was published a few days before other confirmed cases were reported in California. particularly in Calaveras County, near San Joaquin, and Placer County, to the northeast. Health officials in Santa Clara County were also busy Tuesday informing the public of the movements of a traveler who had carried the virus into the area and who had visited at least 20 public places during their stay in Silicon Valley, very populated, at the beginning of the month.

The virus itself is highly contagious and can be transmitted when an infected patient coughs or sneezes – initially presenting with a high fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes and sore throat. Once the first symptoms appeared, a rash occurred three to five days later – the person being contagious during the four days preceding the onset of the rash and the next four days.

The degree of spread of the virus however depends on the number of individuals vaccinated in a given community – a statistical badysis, according to health officials, shows that if there are enough people immunized against measles in the community, a confirmed case simply suffices. can not lead to outbreaks reported elsewhere in recent months.

"While San Joaquin County's public health departments are concerned about each reported case of suspected measles, we would like to point out that the risk of infection from a measles case directly depends on the immunity of the individual to measles, "the statement said. "In simple terms, if people are protected from measles, the risk of contracting measles in an infected patient is approaching zero."

According to the World Health Organization, vaccinations resulted in a 75% reduction in the number of deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2013. In 1980, the agency reported that 2.6 million deaths were related measles and that number had decreased to less than 75,000 by 2014 – most of them children under five.

To fight the growing number of cases and the growing number of people who choose not to vaccinate their children due to health risks, California legislator is considering new measures to tighten restrictions on vaccine exemptions previously used. On Tuesday, California State Senator Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento, introduced a bill that would give the state's public health agency the opportunity to "clean up" the state. approve or deny any medical waiver requests for a child's immunization schedule – thus eliminating a critically-driven loophole operated by sympathetic health professionals as a result of Pan's previous bill aimed at ban the so-called "personal belief" exemption in 2015.

To contact Jason Campbell, write to [email protected] or call 209.249.3544.

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